Sept 9: walking to Castrojeriz

Today we walked around 20 km to Castrojeriz.  Along the way, there was an old abandoned convent that we walked through.  It had been dedicated to San Anton.  The first picture shows the outside of the convent.  The Camino actually took us through the arch in the picture.  In the old days, the people at the convent used to leave bread for the traveling pilgrims in a couple of alcoves in the arch area.  Now, pilgrims leave messages, either concerning loved ones or messages to the broader human race, in those same alcoves.

The second picture is of the castle in Castrojeriz.  It overlooks the whole town.  It actually has 3 parts to it.  The Romans were the first builders.  Then later, the Visigoths added on to it.  And later, the Spanish took it over and made even more additions.  Having the castle on the top of this hill is what allowed the city below it to grow and prosper (at one point, it was a "summer home" for a couple of kings of this region of Spain).  We saw a model of what the town looked like back in the Middle Ages, and there was a wall that surrounded the town, and earthen berms that went up the hillside to the castle, so the whole area was walled in and thus protected from anyone who tried to attack.

The last picture is of us in the wine cellar of where we are staying.  The propieter actually owns a bar, a restaurant, and a hotel that are all connected together.  When we checked in this afternoon, we needed to go to the bar, which was packed with locals (which we took as a good sign), to find the owner.  Then, later in the day, after exploring around the city, we came back to the bar to have a drink before dinner.  We were the only ones in the bar, and so we struck up a conversation with the owner.  When he went to get a bottle of local wine that he recommended we try, it took a little while and he said that he had to go to his cellar.  We expressed an interest in seeing the wine cellar and he was more than happy to take us.  It turns out the cellar dates back to the 14th century, and the owner said he believes some of the stones (which we very large and had very striaght edges) date back to the Romans, because back in the day, people from the town would often use stones from other, older abandonded structures for their own place.  It was very neat to see, as he had not only wine down there but also some food and other essentials, and it actually connected to his garage, so he didn't have to carry everything up and down the steps (which were of 14th century construction, so they were very irregular and bumpy.  He actually had installed a "rope" banister to help people go up and down the steps more safely).